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'Rough Waters' Report: EPA Cuts Could Jeopardize Montana Waterways
‘Rough Waters’ Report: EPA Cuts Could Jeopardize Montana Waterways
Proposed budget cuts could stall Superfund work, undo conservation efforts
BY TRISTAN SCOTT // OCT 23, 2017 // 3:51PM
Columbia Falls Aluminum Company along the Middle Fork Flathead River. Beacon File Photo
A new report by local conservation groups details how the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could cost the state more than $3 million in federal grant funding and hobble ongoing efforts to clean up and protect Montana’s waterways.
In calling for several billion dollars in cuts to the EPA, the president’s proposed budget could hamper scientific research, slow efforts to prevent pollution in local rivers, hold fewer polluters accountable, and stall work to clean up contaminated sites on the National Priorities List, or Superfund, according to the report, “Rough Waters Ahead,” written by the nonprofit Montana Research and Policy Center with support from Montana Trout Unlimited. ... The Trump administration’s proposed fiscal year 2018 budget released in May cuts funding for the EPA by 31 percent, from $8.2 billion in fiscal year 2017 to $5.7 billion next year.
According to David Brooks, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited and a Superfund historian who contributed research to the report, the dramatic cuts would have significant consequences in the Treasure State, particularly to its 17 active Superfund sites, which could stand to lose $1,049,297 in funding next year. The sites received $3,497,656 in fiscal year 2017.
Of the grant funding Montana stands to lose, about one-third of the money would be a reduction to Superfund-related cleanup grants, Brooks said, which could spell trouble for sites like the shuttered Columbia Falls Aluminum Company plant near the Flathead River. The EPA listed the CFAC site on the National Priorities List last fall, designating the 960-acre property for Superfund investigation and eventual cleanup.
Proposed budget cuts could stall Superfund work, undo conservation efforts
BY TRISTAN SCOTT // OCT 23, 2017 // 3:51PM
Columbia Falls Aluminum Company along the Middle Fork Flathead River. Beacon File Photo
A new report by local conservation groups details how the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could cost the state more than $3 million in federal grant funding and hobble ongoing efforts to clean up and protect Montana’s waterways.
In calling for several billion dollars in cuts to the EPA, the president’s proposed budget could hamper scientific research, slow efforts to prevent pollution in local rivers, hold fewer polluters accountable, and stall work to clean up contaminated sites on the National Priorities List, or Superfund, according to the report, “Rough Waters Ahead,” written by the nonprofit Montana Research and Policy Center with support from Montana Trout Unlimited. ... The Trump administration’s proposed fiscal year 2018 budget released in May cuts funding for the EPA by 31 percent, from $8.2 billion in fiscal year 2017 to $5.7 billion next year.
According to David Brooks, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited and a Superfund historian who contributed research to the report, the dramatic cuts would have significant consequences in the Treasure State, particularly to its 17 active Superfund sites, which could stand to lose $1,049,297 in funding next year. The sites received $3,497,656 in fiscal year 2017.
Of the grant funding Montana stands to lose, about one-third of the money would be a reduction to Superfund-related cleanup grants, Brooks said, which could spell trouble for sites like the shuttered Columbia Falls Aluminum Company plant near the Flathead River. The EPA listed the CFAC site on the National Priorities List last fall, designating the 960-acre property for Superfund investigation and eventual cleanup.
